


A Prayer to Mahal

by DevBasaa



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Bromance, Desolation of Smaug spoilers, Gen, Missing Scene, Short One Shot, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevBasaa/pseuds/DevBasaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the barrels, Fili rushes to Kili's side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Prayer to Mahal

**Author's Note:**

> There's even a very small--blink and you might miss it--Tauriel nod at the end. =)
> 
> This is after two viewings, so based off my best recollection of how the scene went. Please excuse any minor inconsistencies. *deep bow*

~*~

Fili tried not to shove his fellow dwarves out of the way as he climbed across the stony shore to reach Kili. Kili had dumped out from his barrel first, dragged himself to an outcropping of rock and rested there. He clutched at his thigh and before Fili could even reach him, Kili had already pulled the arrowhead out. Nori hovered near and Fili heard Kili's answer as he approached.

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

Fili frowned. Kili's face, twisted and tight with pain, did not look fine. The pallor around his eyes certainly did not look fine. Fili hurried his last steps to arrive at Kili's side and clap his shoulder.

"Let me take a look."

Even to Fili, Kili gave the same answer: "It's nothing, I'm fi--"

Fili grabbed his brother's chin, cutting short his words. He tipped Kili's head up and leaned close to whisper: "Even to me, brother, you will lie?"

Kili flinched, though from the pain or accusation, Fili couldn't say. But he did, then, meet Fili's gaze and Fili could see the pain even more clearly. There was a tremor in Kili's eyes, a glassiness that Fili remembered seeing there as young lads when Kili fought off a terrible fever. Fili hadn't left his brother's side then, either.

"Let me look," Fili said again.

With a nod, Kili leaned back and dropped his hands away from his leg. Behind them, Thorin and the others talked, argued, as to what they would do next. There wasn't much time.

Fili ripped Kili's leggings to reveal a deep cut, jagged around the edges. It wasn't large and it bled, as wounds should bleed, but the blood had blackness around the edges and instead of a normal, earthy, coppery scent, it smelled strangely old.

Fili tried not to think about the implications of that. Instead, he ripped the edge of his own tunic, pulling until he had a long strip. Thorin insisted they be moving already, telling them to stand.

Fili didn't stop his work, but he spoke up. "Kili's injured; his leg needs binding."

"Do it quick," came as an answer. Fili would do as his uncle said, but he'd not let speed keep him from a job done right, especially not where Kili was concerned.

When the boatman arrived, Kili stood and did not need any help doing it. The binding, at least, appeared to have helped. And, once negotiations were settled, Kili climbed into the barge without assistance. Fili gave a long sigh of relief when he saw this.

But once in the boat, Fili noticed how the other dwarves gazes drifted to Kili, wondering, knowing, but not saying what they surely all thought. They weren't all warriors as Dwalin and Thorin were, as Kili and Fili had trained to be, but they each knew of orc wounds. All dwarves knew those nightmare stories. But it was Bilbo who stooped over them and spoke the words:

"That's an /orc/ wound."

Nothing more really needed to be said. Kili darted Fili a worried glance. But again he claimed: "It's nothing."

Bilbo gave an exasperated sigh, but didn't press further. What more could be said? They were being smuggled into a town, time slipping away as they struggled to complete their quest. Kili's wound needed to be "nothing" and "fine".

Kili looked down at his leg; Fili did as well. The binding he'd done already had specs of blood seeping through it. But blood darker than it should be, blood festering with something other than the usual infections.

Fili tried not to curse aloud.

Perhaps the fast and hard rush of the river rapids had cleaned the wound out before anything took hold and this darkness was just a lingering sign of what could have been. Fili had seen orc wounds fester so fast, the dwarf had to loose his leg to save his life before the last orc was even killed. Kili by no means looked so badly off. Perhaps it would be fine, as he so adamantly claimed.

Because, with Durin's day fast approaching, they didn't have many options for anything else.

Fili shivered and sent a silent prayer to Mahal. Let his brother be well and let this small reprieve be enough to recover him. Maybe even the iciness of the lake would be enough, their bodies too cold--shivering in their soaked clothes--for any infection to grow, even one from the arrow of an orc.

Fili felt a nudge against his hand, silent and surreptitious, as Kili reached to twine their hands together. Fili answered in kind, keeping their threaded fingers close beside him, tucked against his thigh. And though he hoped the gesture gave comfort to Kili, it only pained Fili's heart. Because he couldn't help but notice the warmth from Kili's skin that shouldn't be there, a fever building within him.

Fili squeezed his brother's hand and held tight. If his prayers could not stop an infection, then maybe Mahal would help them another way. Fili said his prayer again, calling on the memory of their long dead father.

_Let it be that my brother is ever at my side, and I at his. Let there be someone or something that cares as much I do that my brother lives._

It was all that Fili could hope for.

 

The End


End file.
